Dan Linehan The Free Press
MANKATO - The kids at Bridges
Community School already knew
it's a myth we only use 10 percent
of our brains. And they were quick
to volunteer knowledge about the
brain stem - it's responsible for
regulating vital, life-or-death bodily
functions.
One boy even remembered three
steps to a healthy brain.
"Don't use drugs or drink alcohol
and make sure you wear a helmet,"
he said.
And while it's nice to know facts
like these, Minnesota State University
assistant professor of psychology
Dawn Albertson wasn't here,
really, to teach kids that an adult
brain weighs 3 pounds and contains
100 billion cells.
The unspoken message - her enthusiasm
about the brain, and science
in general - was the real
lesson she hoped to pass on to the
fourth- through sixth-graders last
week.
"The difference between achievement
and not is just inspiration,"
Albertson said.
That philosophy was evident in her
enthusiasm and joy as she lectured
the children about the brain.
"You guys are SO good," she told
one class. "You totally don't need
me."
Albertson's visit to Bridges was
essentially practice for what she
and a class at MSU are planning
for brain awareness week from
March 12-18.
She, along with an independent
study class dedicated to this one
task,
will visit as many schools as they
can hit during that week to talk
about the brain.
Albertson believes translating science
for the public to be a noble
goal, and a necessary one. Future
leaders, in whose hands science
funding will rest, ought to know
how science is done - and know
how to question it.
And Logan Lebert, 10, is well on
his way to science literacy.
He remembers dissecting a cow
lung and mentions it as a reason he
might have been one of the first in
line to feel a preserved
sheep's brain.
After thinking a moment,
he decided the brain felt
like "a giant chocolate raisin."
Logan was especially interested
in the brain to help
explain his tendency to
sleepwalk. He learned his
brain keeps working even
when he's asleep.
But the brain fascinated
even those kids too
squeamish to put on a latex
glove and give the brain a
feel.
Mallory Nermoe and Alex
Rivers, both 11, fell into
that camp.
The white, sponge-like
sheep's brain, about as
large as a child's fist, was
just too disgusting, they
agreed, but they still both
enjoyed learning about the brain.
At least one class had spent some
time studying the brain, and Albertson
says they knew a lot more
than a class she taught to in innercity
Detroit.
She wants to spread her enthusiasm,
especially to rural schools
where she says science education
can be less comprehensive.
So this March, she wants to return
to the elementary school halls of
her hometown, a small place in
Faribault County.
"Kiester," she says with a bit of a
laugh. "I want to go to Kiester."
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